Who Doesn't Want to Eat Pasta For A Good Cause?

Northport Dollars for Scholars is holding its second annual fundraising dinner on Friday, Mar. 9, 2018, at Rivertown Grill in Northport. It will be an Italian Dinner with a choice of Sausage Penne, Chicken Fettuccini, or Vegetarian Pasta. Tickets are $15 each and must be purchased in advance. Doors open at 5:30 pm with no host cocktails.

Dinner will be served at 6 pm followed by an auction featuring donated items and services from local businesses, as well as some from the students themselves. Jewelry, fine art items and collectibles are among some of the hand crafted and donated auction items. All proceeds benefit Northport High School Graduates. Gary and Donna Godes, the owners of Rivertown Grill will donate as much of the cost of the food as possible, making the overall benefit to the students even greater. All proceeds will go to scholarships for Northport High School graduates from the class of 2018. To purchase tickets, please contact Darelynn Brunette at 675-2156.

Small Store, Big Heart- A peek into the life of an Onion Creek General Store owner

By Kristinna Hechinger

The small neighborhood of Onion Creek, Washington doesn't include much. It is a beautiful place with a lovely community, but beyond the Onion Creek School and a scattered collection of houses, the Onion Creek General Store is really the only thing around.

Terri Charbonneau, co-owner of the Onion Creek General Store, has been there for 21 years. The original store was a log structure built in 1978, which contained washers, dryers, showers, and more. However, this store burned down in 1987 and the new one was constructed. Some short years later, Terri and her husband Mark purchased the store.




Terri and Mark lived in Spokane, Washington previously. Terri was a business manager for radio stations there, and Mark owned a Bait & Tackle shop. “Mark kept saying he wanted to move further north,” Terri recalls, “I always thought he meant the northside of Spokane.” However, Mark had a place a little farther north in his mind. Mark’s father used to own the Rainbow Beach Resort in Twin Lakes, near Inchelium, WA. Because of this, Mark has visited the area previous to moving there, doing “product testing” for his shop. This, Terri laughs, was “just another name for fishing.”

Mark found their future business on one of these trips. He was up in Onion Creek and happened to see that the local store was for sale. That day, he called Terri and told her he had found their new home.

When they moved up here, they were both ready for a change. A year previously their son had died at age 14. This was the turning point in their lives. Terri explained that he was a very loving and smart kid, with planned to go to Gonzaga and become an architect. Their loss was devastating, and when they moved they were both in search of a new view of life. 

So, the two of them purchased and moved to the Onion Creek General Store, which is connected to their house by a wall and has a park right next to it. Terri recognized that the store had a lot of work to be done. Her goal was to make it more family-oriented, which she accomplished by banning smoking in the store, managing the partying that had previously been going on in the park, and cleaning the place out. Also, she had a dream to turn it into an old country store, and that's what she did. Being her own boss, she has been able to decorate the store to her pleasing and given it the old country look she wanted it to have.

After the move, Terri was just settling in when she noticed the need for some community action. Terri has a soft spot for kids- teenagers especially, she explained, because she remembers what it was like to be that age. So she decided to do a Tree of Sharing during Christmas time, which she did for 3 years. However, Terri observed that not all of the families who needed the presents were taking some. So she came up with a better idea. She and another Onion Creek local came up with the idea of making stockings for all of the kids in the area. At the time, there was about 60 kids in the local school, but Terri estimated they would need to make 100 stockings to insure every kid in the area got one. So they did. She called this the 100 Stocking Project, and she has continued this ever since, for the last 17 years. With increasingly more and more help from the community, the project has grown during this time.

This is not the only way Terri and the General Store have benefited the community. The store is the only place for local residents to pick up the essentials without driving around 20 miles to the next town. The store sells groceries, hardware, sport and fishing supplies, gift items, and more. There is also a gas pump out front, a wonderful park complete with community-built swings and basketball court, and a little library in the side of the store. The library, part of the Libraries of Stevens County, has a local librarian who brings books, audiobooks, and movies to be checked out every Wednesday. Also, people are able to request books and have them brought to the store on that day. This mini-library was once featured in the New York Times and considered to be the smallest in the nation. It is a blessing for Onion Creek residents who love to read but do not get into town much. The park was built mainly by two locals, Peter Quinn and Dennis Egger. They came to Terri and requested to build a basketball court, and she told them what she really wanted was a swing set. So, members of the community pitched in for funding, and with some hard work, both the basketball court and swing set were created. There is also a slide, firemans pole, tetherball and covered benches. Inside, there are computers available for use, and free wifi. Also, May through September, Onion Creek Store offers delicious hot food cooked by Mark himself.

One local resident says the store is “integral to the community, it's kind of the social hub of Onion Creek.” She says that Terri and Mark are not just store owners, but friends to her. “I treasure them. They are kind, community-oriented, and I look forward to talking to them when I go to the store,” she says with a smile.

Terri has a big heart. The hardest part of owning the store, she explains, is seeing families in poverty and not being able to do much to help. However, she does as much as she can and is glad to help the community in any way she is able to. The community is very lucky to have her and Mark, who feel lucky to be here as well.

Terri loves where owning the store has taken them. When asked what the best part of her job is, she explained that there is lots of parts she enjoys. Owning the store with her husband means they get to be their own bosses, which is a great thing, and they get to work together and spend time with each other. She remarks that they share ongoing humor with each other every day, which keeps the job fun. Furthermore, Terri loves getting to see the local kids grow up, and make a little difference in their lives through the 100 Stocking Project. Since the community is a small one, the store allows her to get to know all of the locals, and she has become very good friends with many of them. Finally, she loves the area they are in. “Getting to look outside and see trees, have deer in our yard, look up at the stars- it's amazing,” Terri explains.

The Onion Creek General Store is open 7 days a week, with varying hours. Week days are 7am-6pm, Saturday is 9am-6pm, and Sunday is 10am-4pm. Swing by for a visit!